Housing construction for draft gears



R. M. NELSON HOUSING CONSTRUCTION FOR DRAFT GEARS June 15, 1943.

Filed July 14, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Rober zlmlvecson,

June 15, 1943. R. M. NELSON 2,321,843

nousme conswnucnon FOR DRAFT GEARS Filed July 14, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented June 15, 1943 HOUSING CONSTRUCTION'FOR DRAFT G ARS Robert M. Nelson, Evanston, Ill., assigno'r to Peerless Equipment Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Delaware Application July 14, 1941, Serial No. 402,379

1 Claim.

Thisinvention relates to an improved casing construction for railway car and locomotive draft gears, and has generally in view to provide a draft gear casing which, as compared with known draft gear casings, is not of materially greater weight and yet is greatly increased in strength, particularly regarding resistance to cracking or'splitting, and which, at the same time, embodies a design such that it is held effectively against damaging cooking in its pocket in the usual car or locomotive underframe structure.

With the foregoing general object in view, the invention consistsin the novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and defined in the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein like characters of reference denote corresponding parts in the different views:

Figure l is a horizontal sectional view illustrating a draft gear constructed in accordance with one practical embodiment of the invention. Figure 2 is a transverse section on the line 2-4 of Fig. 1. p

' Figure 3 is a vertical, longitudinal sectional View through the gear of Fig. 1 showing the gear casing in side elevation; and

Figure 4 is a transverse section on the line 4-4 of-Fig. l.

Referring to the drawings in detail, it, Ill designate the usual draft sills of a car or locomotive underframe structure, if and I2 designate, respectively, front and rear stop lugs carried by said draft sills and cooperating therewith to provide between said sills a draft gear-accommodating pocket a, and G designates, generally, a draft gear of a well known type disposed in said pocket.

The draft gear G may, for example, be of the type described and claimed in my prior Patent #2,229,185, or of a generally similar type, and comprises a casing l3 open at its front end and closed at its rear end by a wall M; an annular series of friction shoes l5 disposed in the front end portion of said casing; spring means IS interposed between the rear wall of said casing and said friction shoes and tending constantly to urge said shoes forwardly relative to said casing; a wedge member I! having wedging cooperation with inner, front portions of said friction shoes for the purpose of expanding them into frictional engagement with the casing l3, and a bolt IB connecting said wedge member ll to the rear wall Id of the casing 13 andacting' to maintain' the parts of the gear in assembled relationship to each other, all as is well known and i1- lustrat'ed and described more fully in my prior patent referred to.

The rear end of the casing I3 is disposed against the rear stop lugs l2, a mainfront follower it! is interposed between the wedge member I! and the front stop lugs II, a draft yoke 26 is engaged with'the rear end of said casing whereby draft forces tend to move said casing forwardly, and a coupler butt 2| is engaged with the main front follower I9 whereby buffing forces tend to move the wedge member ll rearwardly. Accordingly, in response to either draft or buffing forces imposed on the gear, the friction shoes I5 are urged outwardly into tight frictional eng a'g'ement with the casing l3 and thereby resist such forces, all as is generally well known in the art.

Even under normal operating conditions the friction shoes 15' exert great forces outwardly upon the front end portion of the casing 13 and at times these forces may become extremely high. Therefore, 'the casing 13 must possess great strength in order to withstand such forces. At the'same time, it is very desirable that said c'asing contain as little valuable metal and be as light as practicable. Moreover, it is very desirable to provide means to prevent the casing l3 from becoming cooked in its pocket a, as this is'conducive tobending' of the bolt 18 and to the setting up of strains in the casing which may cause the same to crack or split. Therefore, according to the present invention, the casing 13 is provided at opposite sides thereof with offset bracing structures designated generally as 22 for th dual purpose of reinforcing said casing against expanding or splitting and for cooperation with the draft sills l0, Ill to hold the casing l3 alined with said sills and braced against cocking in its pocket a between said sills, Moreover, said bracing structures preferably are constructed of skeleton form so that they add comparatively little metal and weight to the casing. In other words, each of the structures 22 comprises, according to a practical and at present preferred embodiment of the invention, as shown in the accompanying drawings, a pair of horizontally disposed, vertically spaced apart rails 23 which are spaced outwardly from the casing 13 and extend substantially from end to end thereof, we-b elements 24 spaced along each rail and connecting the same with the casing I3, and at least one vertical bar 25 connecting together the rails of each pair at or near the front end of said casing.

The bars-25 in conjunction with the rails 23 and the webs 24 act to tie together the upper and the lower portions of the casing 13 and thus render said casing highly resistant to expanding or splitting strains, particularly at the vital front end thereof where the friction shoes I5 are located. Moreover the distance from outside to outside of the structures 22 approximately is equal to the distance between the inner faces of the draft sills ID, ID. Therefore, the structures 22 cooperate at their outer sides with the inner faces of said draft sills to maintain the casing I 3 firmly positioned with its longitudinal axis parallel to said draft sills and thus act to prevent any cocking of said casing in its pocket at. Consequently, any cracking or breakage of a casing constructed in accordance with the invention is extremely unlikely.

In accordance with general practice, the rear wall, M of the present casing l3 has extending inwardly or forwardly therefrom a hollow boss 26 to accommodate the head 21 of the bolt l8 so that said head does not interfere with cooperation of the rear portion of the draft yoke with the rear end of said casing. Heretofore, the usual practice has been to provide a bolt with a square head and to form the head-accommodating hollow portion of the boss 26 of square shape in cross section to insure holding of the bolt against turning. Thus, bosses such as the boss 26 have, in accordance with prior practice, involved sharp corners from which any cracks extending either into the bosses or from said bosses into the rear walls of the casings usually have emanated, thereby indicating that said sharp corners are conducive to the forming of boss cracks. In this connection and according to the present invention, the boss 26 may be of circular shape or of any other suitable shape in cross section exteriorly, but interiorly is of oval shape in cross section as shown in Fig. 4 to accommodate the correspondingly shaped head 21 of the bolt I8. Thus, the bolt is held effectively against rotation and, at the same time, any disadvantageous sharp corners in the boss are entirely avoided with corresponding reduction in the likelihood of cracking of the boss. Moreover, the oval shape of the opening in the boss 26 permits the use'of a Well rounded corner 28 of sizable radius between the rear face of the rear wall Id of the casing and the interior face of the boss 26, which lessens materially the likelihood of the forming of cracks at said comer.

The ofiset bracing structures 22 may, of course, be of other forms than the specific form illustrated to accomplish their intended purpose of reinforcing the casing [3 against splitting and of preventing cocking of said casing in its pocket. Likewise, the boss 26 may be of a form other than the specific form illustrated to avoid sharp corners and to hold the bolt l8 against rotation. The illustrated specific forms of said bracing structures and of said boss are, however, practicable and essentially said bracing structures are of skeleton form in order to conserve metal and Weight.

A draft gear casing constructed as described may be used with either a vertical yoke, as shown, or with a horizontal yoke simply by rotating the gear through an angle of and has the advantage that if used with a horizontal yoke not more than a single carrier iron 29 is required because only a single carrier iron will cooperate effectively with the bracing structure 22 at the lower side of the casing to slidably support the casing in the pocket a.

Without further description it is thought that the features and advantages of the invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and it will of course be understood that changes in the form, proportion and minor details of construction may be resorted to, without departing from the spirit of the invention and scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

A draft gear casing provided on opposite sides thereof with laterally offset skeletonized bracing structures serving to reinforce said casing against splitting by the forces of friction shoes exerted outwardly thereagainst and formed for cooperation with a car or locomotive underframe structure to firmly brace the casing against cocking in its pocket in said underframe structure, said skeletonized bracing structures each comprising a pair of rails spaced apart vertically and also spaced from said casing and extending longitudinally relative to said casing, web elements spaced apart longitudinally along each rail element and connecting the same to said casing, and a vertical bar spaced outwardly from said casing and joining the rails of each pair at their front ends adjacent to the front end of said casing.

ROBE-RT M. 'NELSON. 

